Community Questions Why Richfield Police Didn't Use Taser On Brian Quinones
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The investigation continues into the officer-involved shooting that killed a 30-year-old man from Richfield.
Brian Quinones was live on Facebook as police chased him Saturday night. Friends and relatives say he had been suicidal.
Some, in the aftermath, are questioning why police shot him instead of using a Taser.
In a steady rain, Shawn Price stood by the growing memorial to his friend musician and part-time barber Brian Quinones.
"Brian was just a good guy, the reality is he had some internal struggle and it cost him his life," Price said.
On Saturday, Quinones posted the words so sorry on Facebook, and then live streamed police pursing him first in Edina and then Richfield. After appearing to blow through red lights, he stopped and jumped out of the car, a knife clearly visible in his left hand.
After a few seconds, gunshots can be heard on the video.
Joshua Quinones says his brother's death was not an accident, but questions why police didn't opt to use a Taser.
"He had suicidal thoughts. That was it. He had it all planned out. That was his plan," Joshua Quinones said. "I truly feel it should have been handled differently. His life could have been saved and it wasn't."
WCCO showed the video to use-of-force expert Joe Dutton, who told us that officers would have ordered Quinones to drop the knife.
"If he starts approaching them with it, then they would probably use deadly force because they are not going to give ground," Dutton said.
Brian Quinones leaves behind a wife and son and a wide circle of friends, some of whom protested his death by marching onto Interstate 494 Sunday night.
The day before he died, Brian Quinones released an album of new songs on Soundcloud. The songs on the album do not appear to foreshadow the deadly events that occurred later that day.
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Department did not release any information on Monday and has not said if the shooting was captured on either police body cameras or dash cameras.
An autopsy says Brian Quinones died of multiple gunshot wounds.